Posted on March 25, 2019

Narelle Diau, Madang

Narelle Diau has been working as the Automotive Services Adviser at Divine Word University (DWU) in Madang for two years and manages customer service, client loads and university staff. Narelle supports the construction of new female dormitories and staff housing at DWU, through the PNG-Australia Partnership’s Incentive Fund.

Lily Wani, Madang

Lilly Wani is a carpenter at Divine Word University workshop. She builds furniture for the new male and female dormitories and staff housing delivered through the PNG-Australia Partnership’s Incentive Fund. DWU is dedicated to achieving a balanced gender distribution and providing education and employment opportunities to women and girls. Currently 55 percent of all students enrolled are female, and 70 percent of their administrative staff are women. 

Giam Jolam, Morobe

The solar powered-rice milling machinery provided through the PNG-Australia Partnership’s Incentive Fund, in partnership with the National Agriculture Research Institute (NARI) in Morobe will provide opportunities for female rice farmers like Giam Jolam.

Giam, a young rice farmer from Menyamya District is determined to return to the @pngunre to complete agriculture studies in 2019. Through the rice project, Giam and other female rice farmers will earn money to further their own education, support their children’s future and improve the health of their communities. 


Barbara Max, Jiwaka

Barbara Max graduated from Kokopo Business College, East New Britain, in 2016, and like many recent graduates, struggled to find a job. In 2017 she was told about an advertisement for an Accounts Clerk at Nazarene Health Ministries in Jiwaka and applied for the role. The hospital was trialling new accounting software, Odoo, implemented in conjunction with the PNG-Australia Partnership’s Incentive Fund Hospital Upgrade Program, and Barbara was soon championing its implementation throughout the hospital.

Barbara was quick to learn and demonstrated fantastic analytical skills and insights and was quickly promoted to Systems Analyst for the entire hospital, where she is now responsible for supporting IT staff to train other hospital staff to use the new software. 


Lynneth Annas, Pomio

Lynneth is a plumbing trade student working on the construction of new science labs at Palmalmal Secondary School in East New Britain’s Pomio district, funded through the PNG-Australia Partnership’s Incentive Fund program. Lynneth’s role in the project has inspired girls at the school who observe her work day to day. 

A female year 11 student commented, “Watching them work made me want to be like them and distracted me from class because I always kept looking out and day dreaming that it was me up there!”